DULUTH — Plans estimated at $12 million are taking shape for renovations of Duluth Public Schools’ First Street West building.
In October 2023, the district bought the former Duluth News Tribune location at the corner of Fifth Avenue West and First Street from Forum Communications Co. for $600,000. The news organization relocated in November 2023 to 222 W. Superior St.
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The district intends to relocate many services and schools into the building, including the Area Learning Center and Academic Excellence Online, Duluth Adult Education, Community Education and early childhood programs.
The district will use three levels of the 64,000-square-foot building: the street-level first floor, the second floor and the basement. Each of the three floors is approximately 20,000 square feet.
“It’s big,” Director of Facilities Bryan Brown told the school board during the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday. “It’s really big inside. … It’s all been engineering for the best use of the square footage we can do.”
Bid-letting for the project is scheduled for this summer, with construction starting in late summer or early fall. Completion of the project is expected in fall 2026.
Purchase of the 64,000-square-foot building included a parking garage in the alley behind the building and parking spaces in the Civic Center ramp. The district intends to use both for staff parking. The district is still determining options for student transportation, including district vans.
The first floor will have an entry vestibule and secured reception area facing First Street. Several programs, each with a dedicated space of offices and classrooms, will be housed on the first floor: the middle school Area Learning Center and Academic Excellence Online, centralized enrollment, Head Start and other early childhood programs, a screening center and more.
Students in the high school Area Learning Center and Academic Excellence Online, which will be located on the second floor, will have a separate secured First Street entrance and will be escorted upstairs. Adult Education will also be on the second floor.
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Angie Frank, coordinator of Duluth Adult Education, said Tuesday she’s “thrilled with the space.”
“Right now, we’ve got four programs in our space sharing two classrooms,” she said of its current location at 325 W. First St. In the new space, “each program will have its own classroom,” she said.
Frank said the closest official GED testing center is in Hibbing, although Duluth’s program offers at-home testing and testing rooms.
Few renovations are planned for the basement as it will serve mostly as space for storage, food service receiving and a dishwashing station.
Some departments will have gender-neutral restrooms in addition to the public restrooms. Security staff are monitoring the building and surveillance cameras will be installed. The oversized freight elevator will be replaced with a passenger elevator. LED lighting will be placed throughout the building.
“This will be just like a regular school,” Brown told the school board. “It will be a beautiful space.”
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First Street building plans
First floor
- Lobby and reception area
- Secured separate street entry for Area Learning Center/Academic Excellence Online (high school)
- Screening
- Head Start and other early childhood programs
- Audiologist office
- Centralized enrollment
- STEPS program
- T-12/Bridge special education program
- Early Childhood Special Education
- Area Learning Center/Academic Excellence Online (middle school)
Second floor
- Duluth Adult Education
- Area Learning Center/Academic Excellence Online (high school)
Basement
- Storage
- Food service receiving
- Dishwashing station
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